**Reposted 12-17-14***

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I had known Bella since she was ten and I was fourteen, but I didn't really know her. I knew her as Emmett's little sister; the same girl who used to spy on us when we brought girls back to his house. The same kid who told her dad that we had gotten stoned in Em's bed room at the age of sixteen when she was twelve. The same girl I had spent a summer working with when I was twenty and she was sixteen, doing my best to remember that she was nothing but jailbait.

"What are you staring at?"She demanded from me in a hiss as we sat side by side in the back of the cab that was taking us to her apartment since that's where my car was.

"Nothing. I can't see a fucking thing," I reminded her as she scoffed at my blatant attempt at quilting her even though it was true. My contacts had long been discarded during the constant flushing of my eyes in order to make the pain stop, but I could still her even if I didn't admit it.

Bella had always been a cute kid with her dark hair and wide eyes, but it was almost shocking to see how pretty she had become.

"Stop staring at me," she hissed as she looked away from me and out towards the blackness that surrounded the taxi we were in. It didn't matter what she wanted since I continued to stare at her until we finally pulled up in front of her place. I quickly paid the cab driver before Bella had a chance to dig money out of her purse while asking him to wait for me since I needed to walk the girl to her door.

"You didn't have to do that," she grumbled as she ran a weary hand through her hair, pulling it free from the sloppy ponytail that she had pulled it back into.

"A gentleman never allows a lady to pay," I stated, reciting what had been ingrained into me by my father concerning the treatment of ladies.

Whatever," Bella mumbled with a yawn as she moved towards her apartment building door.

"Wait!" I called to her as she turned away from me. "We have so much to discuss and…" I began but she silenced me with a look that was dangerously dark.

"I'm tired," she whined, but I could see the threat in her eyes as she looked at me.

"But…" I began before she silenced me with a wave of her small hand.

"Tomorrow afternoon, Edward. Come over then and we can discuss this fucked up idea of yours," she stated in a firm voice that told me we were done.

"Now, come on," she stated as she pulled me by my arm into the building with an irritated huff.

"I'm too tired to drive you home so you can stay over on my couch if you want, but don't get any funny ideas," she half growled at me as I laughed at the idea of getting funny ideas over this girl. She was pretty, but not pretty enough for me to risk my life over since I knew how Emmett's temper was when it came to anyone messing with his baby sister.

"Shut up," Bella snapped at me, clearly offended by my laughter over the situation.

"Thanks for the offer, Bella, but I think I will just go home for tonight," I said as I motioned for her to keep walking.

"I can find my own way inside," she groused as I chuckled at her bitchy attitude as a flash back of a little girl with dark hair wild from sleep, who would be grumpy if she didn't get enough sleep flashed before my eyes.

"I trust you can, but I want to make sure you're safe - that's all," I stated simply as she stared at me for a moment before shrugging as if in defeat to allow me to walk her to her door. It was with a simple, yet awkward good night before the agreement to talk later as I left the girl at her door step safe and sound.

It was hours later, so much later that it felt like a lifetime, when I reappeared at her door step with a box of orange cremsicle popsicles in hand to appease the girl in order to talk to her, as well as retrieve my car.

"Hey Edward," Bella announced breathless, as she pulled open the door for me to enter. She looked uncomfortable with me being there, and while I kind of felt the same way, I was not about to let a little discomfort stop me from reaching my goal. People could say what they wanted about me, but once I set my mind to something, I didn't quit until I got what I wanted.

"These are for you," I said with a charming smile as I handed her the box of frozen treats that I had remembered her loving from the past.

"Uhm…Thanks," she mumbled as she took the box from hands with an uncertain smile as she looked at the box in a confused manner.

"I remember how much you loved these," I gloated as I wanted the girl to realize that I had remembered her.

"You do?" she questioned with an odd look as I bobbled my head up and down like a damn fool as she looked at me with hard eyes that reminded me of her asshole cop dad.

"That's funny because I never ate these things," she said as she looked at me with a scowl that surprised me.

"Yes, you did. When you were little you loved these fucking things," I laughed as I stood there watching the girl who stood her ground with a box of popsicles in her hand.

"No, I didn't. It was the girl that you were screwing around with who loved them, not me," she corrected with a gloating grin as she raised her chin in defiance towards me.

"I only remember you with them," I confessed, feeling a little confused over the memory of her in pigtails with a Popsicle in her mouth.

"She would buy them for me as a bribe to keep me away while you and Emmett screwed around with her and her slut friend," Bella said with a grin as I shook my head to clear the embarrassment that suddenly flared inside of me for a split second.

"Well, it's the thought that counts," I replied with a smile as she snorted in response before turning to put the box of freezer treats away.

"Listen, Edward, it's been years since we've seen each other," I heard her call out to me as I felt the sting of rejection coming on.

"It has, but I've always thought about you," I lied sweetly causing her to laugh at me from a distance before asking if I wanted anything to drink.

"I don't see how this can work," she confessed to me as she came back into the room with two cans of diet coke in her hands before handing me one.

"It's simple," I retorted as she motioned for me to sit down so we could talk. "All you have to do is get him to marry you." She had a dumb founded look on her face as I smiled at her. It slowly faded into a hard scowl as she stared at me with dark eyes that made me nervous.

"And how the hell am I supposed to do that?" she asked with a chuckle as she played with her long hair before tossing it over her shoulder once more, exposing her skin as she sat there in a tank top and yoga pants that seemed to only enhance the curves of her body.

"I don't know- flash him your tits or something," I offered as my eyes settled on her breasts. They were larger than I remembered, but it had been years since I had seen her last, and even then, I would not have looked at her tits out of respect for Emmett.

"If you think that's all it takes to make someone marry you then you are dumber than you look," she chortled as I choked on my soda.

"Fuck you, I don't look dumb," I grumbled as she continued to laugh.

"Edward, have you ever been in love before?" she asked me with a somewhat serious look on her face. It would have been stern, except for the teasing smile she wore as she looked at me. It was that smile that showed the hint of the ten year old girl, all spunk and sass, like the girl I used to know.

"No. Have you?" I asked feeling genuinely curious about this woman who used to be the girl I knew.

"Once and trust me when I say it takes more than flashing a nice pair of tits," she laughed humorlessly as my eyes drifted to her chest that was proudly on display since on default since she had mentioned them before righting myself once more.

"Now, what exactly was it you wanted me to do again?" she asked me, pulling me out of imagining what her breasts would look like and back to the business a hand.

AN:

Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for all her corrections and kindness.

Xoxo

Mamasutra